Burning Ice
by Australian Chaos
Summary: As an abandoned Glaceon struggles to survive in the wild, her past threatens to tear her already uncertain future apart, but is her past more of a danger than even she realises? Rated for violence and dark/mature themes.
1. Chapter 1: One Too Many

**Chapter 1**

**One Too Many**

The young, pale blue Pokemon trudged along behind her Coordinator, her ears and tail hanging low, her head hanging, staring at her Coordinator's shoes as she trotted along to keep pace with his brisk walk. She could tell, just by staring at his shoes, and noticing the stiff, tense stride he had at the moment, that she was in trouble...again.

The Glaceon had really tried to get it right this time...she really had. But as always, the young Pokemon seemed to lose her focus at the wrong moment, or else, as was the case today, fail to execute an appeal as fully as she had expected, losing marks from the Contest judges in the process. She had tried her heart out, and because she had lost focus for one, critical moment, they had failed to pass the Appeals Round of their latest Contest. Once again, her nervousness had gotten the better of her...and now, as always, her Coordinator was winding himself up to remind her of her constant failings.

Finally, after following her Coordinator for several minutes, worrying endlessly about what he was going to say...or possibly do to her, he lead her out of the human settlement the latest Contest had taken place in, heading into a wooded hillside, somewhere off the beaten track. She expected him to stop, to turn and rant at her at any moment...but he never did. He just kept on walking.

As the minutes turned to hours, and the sun crept lower and lower towards the horizon, the Glaceon struggled to keep up with her master, fighting the urge to whimper in complaint of her sore feet. Her Coordinator was obviously not in the mood for her to start acting like a crybaby, so she just stayed silent, continuing to follow her Coordinator in fearful silence.

Finally, as the sky started to fade into the warm orange glow of dusk, the sun seeming to almost touch the horizon, the Glaceon's Coordinator finally came to a stop in a small, grassy clearing, ignoring her entirely as she sat down behind him, staring at her front paws, her ears and tail still low, waiting for whatever punishment he saw fit to hand out...judging by how far he had taken her away from civilisation, he was really angry with her this time.

She waited for what felt like hours, but in reality must have been less than a minute, before she heard her Coordinator finally speak up, in a voice that literally shook with suppressed rage. "Lapilla..."

It was just one word, her own name, but even those three syllables caused the Glaceon to cringe slightly, fully aware of what she believed was coming. He was really angry this time...angrier than he had ever been at her before.

Because she was still looking at her paws, Lapilla did not notice her Coordinator approach her until she felt his hands grasp her around the middle, a startled, scared yelp escaping her muzzle as she was hoisted roughly off the ground, raised up so her face was level with that of the human that controlled her, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

Instantly, she realised she was wrong. One look in his eyes told Lapilla that her Coordinator was not angry at her...he was furious. She had this confirmed a second later when he shook her roughly, causing her head to spin as she tried to focus on his words, ranting at her as he shook her around like a rag doll.

"What is wrong with you? Huh! Why do you keep holding back on me? Every Contest, it's the same thing! You always screw up at one key moment, every Arceus-damned time we do this!" As he finished, he let his grip on her sides release, causing Lapilla to drop suddenly and unexpectedly to the ground, crying out as her hip and ribs on one side took the brunt of the impact, sending pain flashing through her body.

As she lay on the ground, her eyes screwed shut with the lingering pain of her poor landing, she heard his voice roaring again, clearly not done. "Do you enjoy this, Lapilla? Do you find it funny to watch me screw up time after time, constantly the laughing stock of the judges? Well, do you? Answer me!"

His last two words were spat out with such ferocity that Lapilla actually cringed from her curled-up position, frightened of actions to back up the Coordinator's enraged words. Knowing she'd better give him some kind of sign that she understood, she shakily got to her paws again, ignoring the stinging pain in her side, before shaking her head. "No," she said quietly, knowing her Coordinator would not understand her, but hoping the vocalisation would add emphasis to her honest denial.

"You don't huh?" the Coordinator spat, his tone putting on a good sense of disbelief. "Well, if you don't find it funny, then you're simply just too stupid to fix your constant mistakes. Is that it?" He was no longer yelling, but Lapilla could hear the continued rage in his voice, which somehow made it even scarier than when he was shouting.

But she could not bring herself to answer this time, knowing that denying both statements would just make him angrier still. "I...I'm trying, I really am..." she said shakily, still aware that her Coordinator could not understand, but praying that, perhaps this time, he would.

Upon her vocalisation, however, the Coordinator simply snorted. "You're pathetic, Lapilla," he spat, causing the Glaceon to cringe...such insults often felt like physical slaps to the muzzle for her. "I give you a home, food, and all the comforts you could ask for, and I only ask one thing in return. But you're that useless that you can't even give me this one, simple repayment."

Lapilla just hung her head at his. In a strange, twisted sense, she knew it was true, and that's what hurt the most. He gave her a home, a life, and all he asked in return was that she participate in these Pokemon Contests, and show herself off...but try as she might, she never could control her nerves on stage. Part of it was a sense of stage-fright, but part of it she knew was fear of what her Coordinator would do if she she failed again. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, her fear of failure causing said failure, and it was a trait that left her partially ashamed of herself, even if her shame was simply because her Coordinator hated her failures so much.

But Lapilla knew the worst was yet to come...she just had no idea how bad it was. "Well I've had enough, Lapilla," he growled, causing the Glaceon to freeze, fear gripping her as her mind whirled with scenarios of what he was about to do to her. "I am sick to death of your continued failure, despite my attempts to train you, and now I'm going to do something about it." The final part was said with a finality that scared Lapilla to her very core. She knew her Coordinator was harsh, but surely he would not resort to killing her as a punishment, surely?

She actually backed away from him a couple of steps as he reached into the pockets of his jacket with both hands. But could not help the sigh of relief that escaped her muzzle when he simply produced a small red-and-white ball, and a red device. His PokeDex, and the PokeBall he kept her contained in. By the looks of it, he was simply going to keep her confined in the Pokemon storage sphere for an extended period of time. Not exactly enjoyable, particularly when contained for long stretches, but she had endured worse from him...and considering she had thought he was about to kill her for a moment, this seemed lenient in comparison.

But her relief vanished when her Coordinator caught onto her expression...and responded by smirking, instead of starting a fresh rant. "You think I'm letting you off easy? Hardly..." he drawled, before flipping open the PokeDex, tapping a few buttons on the handheld computer-like device, Lapilla unable to suppress her curiosity at what he was doing.

Her curiosity turned to pure dread, however, when the PokeDex spoke up in it's electronic voice. _"Confirmation requested: Pokemon 471-G0165, nickname; Lapilla, is to be released. Confirm?"_ She did not understand what the sequence of numbers and letters meant, but she knew what the rest meant all too well...her Coordinator was going to send her into the wild, on her own, with no preparation!

But her Coordinator, in a nasty act of cruelty, paused, his finger hovering over the confirmation button, looking down at Lapilla with what appeared to be a satisfied look on his face. "Yes, you know what I'm doing, don't you? Like I said, Lapilla, my patience has run out. I've given you chance after chance, but no, you just keep on screwing up. I was going to sell you, but my buyer had no interest in you, so this'll have to do."

Lapilla barely understood anything he said, panic clouding her mind. She was not ready to be released. Ever since she had hatched, she had been in the possession of various humans, never alone, never having to fend for herself. What truly terrified her was that she had gotten used to her life, and had never learned the skills she knew she would need to survive in the wild...she did not have a clue what to do out here!

Looking up at her Coordinator, his hand still hovering over the button, she knew she must look a pathetic sight, feeling her eyes watering up in desperation as she looked up at him pleadingly. "Please," she begged, not caring if he understood or not, doing everything she could think of to get him to change his mind. "Please, no. Don't leave me out here. I can't do it."

The Coordinator, for his part, widened his smirk, almost seeming to understand what she was saying. "You don't want to be released, do you?" he asked, getting a desperate nod from Lapilla. "You've never been in the wild, alone, have you?" Yet another nod from Lapilla. He seemed to pause at this moment, thinking things over. As the seconds ticket by, Lapilla began to hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd change his mind, that he'd cancel the release process and give her another chance.

But his next words sealed Lapilla's worst nightmare as reality. "Well, tough!" he spat, causing Lapilla to jump back, startled by his sudden return to shouting. "I have given you chance after chance after chance! And you gave me nothing but more failures! I don't have the time or patience to deal with you any more, so you're out! It's time you learned to get by on your own anyway...it may even toughen you up a bit."

Knowing what was coming, Lapilla reached a paw up towards his hand desperately, a strangled cry of "No!" escaping her. But it was useless, Lapilla forced to watch in horror as he pressed the button, the PokeDex beeping confirmation, before the PokeBall that she was contained in gave a pull ping of its own, signalling its disconnection to Lapilla, and the final confirmation she needed...she was now officially a wild Pokemon.

Lapilla just sat there, frozen in horror. She was being kicked out, send into the wild without having a clue how to survive out here. Her pale body began to shake as the full realisation of what was happening dawned on her. This was why her Coordinator had taken her all the way out here, she realised.

Knowing she was in no way prepared for life in the wild, she turned as her Coordinator walked past her, obviously leaving her there. "No, please! Wait!" she cried, chasing after him, maybe he would at least let her follow him back to town, where some human would help her find a new home, and a new human to care for her.

She expected him to try and stop her, but his method of doing so caught her completely off-guard. In a flash, he spun around, a PokeBall in his hand, snapping open as he glared at her, releasing another of his Pokemon, a white bodied humanoid with green across its upper half, and red spiked protrustions sticking out of its chest and back. It was the Coordinator's Gallade.

Before Lapilla could so much as blink at the unexpected introduction of the Gallade, the blade-like extension of its right elbow extended to its full length at the same time as the Pokemon lashed out with it. The blunt edge of the bladed elbow extension caught Lapilla viciously across her already-sore side, striking her with enough force to knock her off her feet, her vision almost blacking out as her head struck a small rock upon landing, stunning her.

Semi-conscious, she still had enough awareness to hear her now-former Coordinator as he spoke up again. "You really think I'd let you follow me back?" he asked, before snorting as he returned the Gallade to it's PokeBall, Lapilla watching with darkened vision as he turned to leave again. "No, your actions got yourself here, now you can learn to live with it. So long Lapilla...enjoy he rest of your life...or what's left of it."

Still dazed, and fast losing consciousness from the head impact, Lapilla could only watch as the human left, in a move that Lapilla knew, without a miracle, was going to condemn her to death. But before she could even begin to think of how to get out of this mess, her aching, dazed body finally gave in the blackness creeping at the edges of her vision, as she allowed herself to slip into unconsciousness, her lasts, frightened thoughs wondering how she was going to last more than two days out here.

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><p><strong><em>Author's Notes:<em>**

_Well, here we are! After nearly a WHOLE YEAR of inactivity, I've finally returned to some writing form, and started my first Pokemon fan fiction! Hopefully I can get a frequent run of updates going, but considering my history, there are no guarantees whatsoever. That said, I'm really liking what I have planned for this story so far, and new ideas are constantly springing up, so we should see updates coming pretty well for the next month or two at the very least._

_In any case, welcome to Burning Ice, and hopefully I've perked your interest! What's going to happen to poor Lapilla now? I'll get the answers in the second chapter as soon as I can!_

_Also, while I'm here, I have to give a huge amount of credit to Diamond Girl400. This idea first came to me as a result of a Pokemon RolePlay the two of us were working on, and as such, she has kindly allowed me to use not only a few plot elements from the RP, but a few of her characters, as well, which I will credit more specifically when they enter this story.  
><em>


	2. Chapter 2: Solo Act

**Chapter 2**

**Solo Act**

Slowly, Lapilla regained her senses, her sluggish mind still kicking into full gear as she raised her head, blinking and looking around herself, trying to determine why she was in the middle of a small forest clearing, in the middle of the night, all alone. Where was the soft bed she always curled up in? Where was the bowl of Pokemon food she always had when she woke up?

Inevitably, though, her memory of the last evening returned to her, of how her Coordinator had abandoned her. The reminder caused panic to begin to settle into her mind as she looked around, praying that either her Coordinator had come back, or there was someone who could help her around. But there was no-one, not a soul in the clearing with her. For the first time since she had hatched as a tiny Eevee, Lapilla was truly, completely alone.

The Glaceon's body began to shake as the full realisation of her predicament began to set in, her panic soaring to new heights as she looked around, jumping at every small sound that came from the trees around her, as she struggled to work out what to do next. She had rarely been out in the wild before, and even when she had, it had always been with her human, so there was always food, shelter and protection available should she need it. Now, on her own, she had none of those things available readily.

Lapilla's stomach chose that moment to complain loudly, reminding her that she had not eaten since that morning, and since it was now the dead of night, she realised that she had gone nearly a whole day without food. Whimpering slightly, she eyed the forest fearfully, scared to head into the dark, unknown depths of the canopy, but also knowing that if she stayed here, she would starve.

Indecision struck her for an indefinite time, as Lapilla tried in vain to decide where to go. Should she head off into the forest in front of her, or behind her? Should she just stay here until the morning? Eventually, though, the decision was made for her when a Hoothoot's echoing call resounded eerily somewhere off to her left side, startling her badly. Without thinking about what exactly she was doing, she immediately made off in a stiff, swift trot away from the noise, just looking for somewhere quiet where she could lie down, rest, and possibly think of an idea of what to do next.

But even as she wandered deeper into the trees, her fear only grew, as darkness enveloped her. She could barely see more than a few feet in front of her nose, every small noise and movement from the trees and foliage around her caused her to jump and look around in fear, the uncertain light making her see vicious monsters and uncertain images of her fears all around her. She was usually not afraid of the dark, but now she understood why many humans and Pokemon did fear it...the darkness held vast unknowns, which for someone in her situation, was never a good thing.

She no longer had any sense of direction or purpose with her movements, her panicked mind simply trying to get away from every perceived thread, only to turn and head in another direction when another possible danger presented itself in the form of a small noise or minute shifting in the shadows around her. But the more she tried to escape the terrors of the night, the more they seemed to persist in haunting her. She had no idea how long she had been on the move by this point, but the night was still as dark and foreboding as ever, and Lapilla was now convinced she was being watched. Several times she could have sworn she had seen a pair of eyes glowing in the darkness, possibly two, but in her fear-induced paranoia, she could not be certain if they were real, or just a hallucination of her panic-crazed mind.

It was during one of these possible hallucinations, where she was looking over her shoulder, trying to find the glowing eyes she was certain she had seen just moments ago, when she felt her paw sink into something, causing her to yelp in leap back in fright, shaking her paw rapidly to try and shake off whatever had got her. The splash that reached her ears an instant later, along with the cold, wet feeling that now settled on her paw, told her that she had merely stepped into water. Turning her gaze to the ground in front of her paws, she realised that she had indeed stumbled across a small stream, and as she paid closer attention, finally heard the faint trickle of the water running over its rocky bed.

Heaving a sigh of relief, and feeling a little foolish for her paranoia, she slowly stepped closer to the riverbank, still looking around herself. Her eyes had begun to adjust to the darkness a little, and while she could see around with a little more certainty now, every small movement coming from the darkness still frightened her. Trembling slightly, she forced her gaze away from the forest around, focusing on the stream in front of her as she leaned down to drink, her hunger having been accompanied by aching thirst as well since she woke.

But even keeping her gaze away from the shadows of the forest did nothing to ease her fears. If anything, her attempts to keep her focus away from her vision just seemed to enhance her hearing, making every small noise seem like it was right next her, causing her to look up several times fearfully, only to find nothing there.

Finally, after several repeats of this, she gave up her water stop, having barely gotten more than three laps of water down, her panicked mind screaming at her that something was watching her...that she had to leave, now. In her desperation, she even went so far as to cross the stream, hoping whatever it was following her did not like water.

As she wandered back into the forest, though, the noises only seemed to grow more insistent, and louder still, leaving Lapilla silently wishing she was back in a human home, curled up in a soft bed next to the cool breeze of an air conditioning vent, with a bowl of food and water nearby should she ever feel hungry or thirsty. She never wanted this...never wanted to be released into the wild, and now she was more convinced than ever that she was not meant to be out here.

Part of her still hoped that her Coordinator was just testing her, and that in the morning, he would come back and take her away. But she knew it was hopeless, the look on his face as he had left, the way he had cruelly gotten his Gallade to strike her down when she tried to follow...she had been permanently released, and he was not coming back.

Lapilla was suddenly startled from her desperate wish to be back in a human home by a loud, clearly audible noise as something moved in the foliage nearby. This time, she knew she had not imagined it...something was definitely watching her. Spinning, nearly stumbling in her haste to try and find to unknown follower, she looked into the gloomy shadows wildly, fear and panic quickly rising in her chest, making her tremble visibly. "W-who's there?" she stuttered as loudly as her fear would let her, trying and failing to sound more confident than she was. "Come o-out!"

But whatever mysterious being was following her was not up to revealing itself any time soon, as Lapilla's fearful calls were ignored. She looked around once more as silence fell over the forest, feeling more and more paranoid by the second as she moved off again, trying to find something, anything, that could help her, be it food, water, shelter, another Pokemon...anything would do for her right now.

But there was nothing around but the thick forest foliage around her, the tree canopy above, and the gloomy shadows that seemed to jump out at her every few moments. And her follower seemed to be getting bolder, the various noises coming from the underbrush behind Lapilla getting louder, closer, and more frequent than before. Lapilla, really scared for her safety by now, started moving faster, her shaky walk now a jittery trot, looking back over her shoulder every few moments, trying to catch a glimpse of her stalker.

But her tormentor seemed to revel in her fear, the noises increasing in volume as her stalker picked up the pace to match hers, making no attempt to hide their presence now, which only fed Lapilla's fear further...they were bold and confident. To Lapilla, that meant they were most likely powerful. And the Glaceon was not a battler...she was a Contest Pokemon, not a professional fighter.

"Go away!" she called behind her, now moving into a blind run through the forest, desperately trying to shake her sinister shadow. "Just leave me alone!" She ran aimlessly, dodging around bushes and tree trunks, twisting and turning through the shadow without any sense of direction, just praying she was fast and nimble enough to lose her tail...her Contest training had given her some impressive flexibility and quick foot-work, allowing her to twist through the maze of the forest with surprising speed considering the cramped confines the forest seemed to have this deep in.

But even with her best efforts, her pursuer seemed to remain close behind, never gaining ground, but never losing it, either. Lapilla was getting desperate, knowing her endurance would not hold out for much longer, considering her lack of recent food. And once she exhausted herself, she would be an easy target for whatever was following her, leaving her at their mercy, whether that meant death, or something even worse.

But, by some miracle, just as Lapilla was ready to give up and submit to whatever fate Arceus had condemned upon her, she heard the noises behind her fade away. Slowing down so could hear better over her own ragged breathing, she confirmed it; whatever her pursuer was, it had not only stopped its chase, but was even turning around and leaving, the noises growing fainter as she listened, causing her to heave a huge sigh of relief. She had no idea why the shadowy creature was giving up now, when it almost had her, but Lapilla was definitely not going to complain about this small miracle.

Once her stalker finally faded off beyond her hearing range, Lapilla allowed herself to relax slightly, and focus on the next pressing task; finding food. But even as she turned around once more to begin searching for something she could eat...if she even knew what it was, she froze, seeing what her blind panic at her mysterious shadow had caused her to miss the first time she got here.

All around the small, secluded spot she had found herself in, were lengths of long, sticky spiderwebs. Some stretched between the trees, forming various complex patterns and nets, while more still were just wrapped around the trees themselves, like some sort of creepy style of decoration. But Lapilla could see the small crackles of static electricity coming from the silky webs, and knew this wasn't your average spiderweb collection, not that the thought gave her any cause for calm at all...if anything, her previous panic from her unknown stalker had just returned with a vengeance.

For she knew that the silky webs must belong to a Galvantula, which could only mean one thing; she had stumbled across a Galvantula nest! Fear settling in very rapidly knowing wild Galvantula her carnivorous, and a measure larger than herself, she immediately turned to leave, knowing that if she did not escape soon, she was going to turn into spider food.

But even as she turned around, fully prepared to head back in the direction of her unseen stalker and risk being tailed by them again if it meant escaping this latest hell, she heard the distinctive, high-pitched clicking that, thanks to seeing a few of the EleSpider Pokemon in Contests in the past, she knew Joltik and Galvantula made. And the noise was coming from where she had entered, which a panicked look around confirmed was the only way in or out of the nest without getting caught up in the nasty Electrowebs scattered in the trees around her. She was trapped!

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><p><strong><em>Author's Notes:<em>**

****_Well, there you have it, Chapter 2...and yes, another cliffhanger from me. Sadly, you'll have to get used to it, I'm addicted to them something bad, and as far as I'm aware, there no kind of therapy for cliffhanger-addiction :P_

_I should also point out at this time that I do not have any sort of beta-reader for my fan fictions, and I've never been very good at proof-reading my own work. As such, these chapters may be riddled with various spelling and grammar errors, although I try my best avoid them, some do slip through, and I apologise for any and all that are present._

_Also please note that I have a lot of things going on around me at the present time, and finding the chance to focus on the fan fictions can be a bit hit and miss right now. Hopefully your waits won't be too long, and all have Chapter 3 out relatively soon to get you passed this cliffhanger!_


End file.
